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April 25 - GOVERNOR OF TEXAS SEEKS HIGHER OIL PRICES: Texas Governor
Rick Perry asked for a 50 percent waiver of the recently passed Renewable Fuel Standard today, indicating that he hopes for higher gas prices than are already plaguing consumers. When asking USEPA for the
waiver, he blamed global food prices and higher feed costs on the production of corn-based ethanol.
Art Bunting, President of the Illinois Corn Growers Association, suggested the
Governor look up a copy of the recently published Texas A & M report titled “The Effects of Ethanol on Texas Food and Feed.” Certain portions of the report might be of interest to Governor Perry as he
attacks ethanol, namely that relaxing the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) would not result in lower corn prices for livestock and poultry feeders and that prices of household groceries, such as bread, eggs, and milk
are unrelated to ethanol or corn prices.
“The underlying force driving changes in the agricultural industry, along with the
economy as a whole, is overall higher energy costs, evidenced by $100 per barrel oil,” the study says.
The authors also found that speculative investment in the commodities futures
market is leading to increased volatility.
“Speculative fund activities in futures markets have led to more money in the
markets and more volatility,” the study says. “Increased price volatility has encouraged wider trading limits. The end result has been the loss of the ability to use futures markets for price risk management due to
the inability to finance margin requirements.”
TO READ THE COMPLETE STUDY CLICK THIS LINK:
http://www.afpc.tamu.edu/pubs/2/515/RR-08-01.pdf
APPEARANCE OF NCGA OFFICER ON NATIONAL NEWS PROGRAM: Congratulations to the
National Corn Growers Association for all of their efforts to get the other side of the corn-food price- ethanol story to consumers. The efforts have paid off well this week with several national news programs
providing more balanced coverage. Grower Ken McCauley did an excellent job on "American Morning" on CNN. Check out the segment that addresses the food and fuel issue here:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/tech/2008/04/25/intv.food.vs.fuel.cnn
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